He was convicted of buggery and sexual assault in March 2004, but fled before sentencing to the UK, where he joined the British Army under a false name and date of birth.

Haugh was found and extradited back to Ireland, where he claimed he’d been forced to leave the country because he and his family had been threatened by vigilantes.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years, but again broke his post-release conditions after serving his term and absconded, with gardai receiving intelligence he had gone to join the French Foreign Legion.

Last March, two members of the Legion were arrested by cops probing the brutal weekend-long rape and kidnapping of Mr Ostmane.

During his ordeal, the 36-year-old claimed his drink was spiked in a bar on a Friday night.

He said two men brought him to a hotel room and tortured and raped him for several hours in an attempt to get him to give up his bank card PIN.

Mr Ostmane alleges that while Haugh’s accomplice, a Chilean American, left to try and get money, the Irishman raped him.

However, the Chilean-American discovered he had been given a fake PIN and returned to the hotel, where the activist said both men beat him severely and further sexually assaulted him.

Recounting the incident, he said: “They took me to a hotel in the centre of Marseille.

“Once in the room, one of them went out for a while, and the other gave me a punch in the face and then raped me.

“The second man — the Chilean-American — came back, snorted coke, then asked me for money and took my credit card.

“I gave a fake code, and they beat me again when one came back empty-handed.

I could see a police car in the Opera Square with two policemen and a policewoman outside. I hesitated for 20 seconds, thinking, ‘If I don’t do anything, I’ll die.’ I shouted with all my strength

“Then, half-conscious, I remember one of them tore a sheet and tied my ankles and wrists. I was kicked in the face and the chest.

“I was thrown against the wall, where my nose suffered a violent shock. There was blood everywhere. I fell to the ground, and I shouted. One of the men took out a knife, which was later confirmed by police to be a survival knife, and told me to be silent, otherwise he was going to kill me.

“One of them went out, and from 5.10am on Saturday morning, nothing happened. I tried to negotiate to leave but was refused.

“The older one was supposed to be Chilean or American. The older guy told me at one point, ‘You French, people come to help you, but you hate Trump, and you listen to black and Arabic music’.”

On Sunday morning, over a day-and-a-half after the start of the beatings and sexual assault, Ostmane found a way to escape.

He added: “From an open window, I could see a police car in the Opera Square with two policemen and a policewoman outside. I hesitated for 20 seconds, thinking, ‘If I don’t do anything, I’ll die.’ I shouted with all my strength,”.

The two men beat him, and Ostmane defended himself while the first answered the door. The police arrested them immediately. They are now in custody awaiting trial

He said: “The policemen did very well with me.

“They took me to the hospital, where I stayed from 1.10pm on Sunday. I saw many policemen pass by, I had a lot of exams and I was given post-exposure treatment for HIV.”

Images posted to social media of Mr Ostmane following the alleged incident show him in a hospital room with two black eyes and cuts to his face. Ostmane is a founding member of Shams France, an LGBT organization created in 2014 to defend the rights of LGBTs born in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Libya.

The Irish Sun on Sunday understands the judge overseeing the case ordered the Irishman’s identity be verified after the issue was raised by a lawyer for the victim, who had positively identified Haugh as the man who raped him.

A French source close to the case revealed: “The Irish assailant has claimed in his defence that he is not homosexual, he’s not attracted to men, so he could never do such a thing.

“However, if it can be definitively established that he has lied about his identity, then the case against him is much stronger.”

CRASH HORROR

'gentle soul'

The case is now in the hands of an investigating judge who will determine what charges to bring.
When contacted by the Irish Sun on Sunday this week, Haugh’s family in Corofin, Co Clare, said they had no comment to make.

A family member said: “He walked out that gate three years ago and we haven’t seen him since. He made no effort to contact us.”